I'm a Satisficer. What are You?

My very favorite blog in the whole entire world is Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. 

In the interest of full disclosure, Gretchen is my writing partner’s sister.  In the interest of full full disclosure, if she weren’t WP’s sister I would still read her blog every day.  I love it.  I actually believe it has changed my life for the better in some very concrete ways.  For one thing, I now know that I am a satisficer.  What’s a satisficer, you ask?  If you want an actual definition, go check out The Happiness Project.  My to-sum-up version is basically this: There are two kinds of people, satisficers and maximizers.  Maximizers do tons of research and gather tons of information before they make decisions and then often regret the decision they make.  Satisficers gather information too, but reach a now-I-know-enough stage and make a seemingly quick decision that they are then happy with forever more.  That’s me to a tee.  (Except when it comes to my iPhone.  I have the second incarnation, and I love it less and less.  Can’t type on it.  Annoying.  But I digress.)

So I suspect that’s how I will be with this whole having/adopting a child process.  I will analyze and mull and think and re-think—and then, probably when I seem farthest away from making a decision, one day everything will fall into place in my head and I’ll move very quickly.  And since I’m a satisficer, I can be fairly sure that I’ll be happy with my decision, and that once all the angst is done, I’ll just be a happy mom. 

A happy working mom with three dogs and a house and a car and… Yikes.  In the paraphrased words of Katherine Hepburn, “I don’t need a husband, I need a wife.”

Are you a satisficer or a maximizer?  If you’re a parent, does being a satisficer or maximizer impact your approach to parenting?

And seriously.  Check out The Happiness Project.  It’s better than Prozac.

Comments

[Liz]

Here's my problem. I think I'm a satisficer until the decision is made. But then I'm NOT satisfied and realize too late I'm a maximizer. This happens over and over. Being pregant at the moment, I have no doubt this means I'll go out and buy all kinds of stuff without doing proper research, then lay awake at night thinking about my regrets...

[Heather]

Is there a definition for someone who does tons of research, becomes too overwhelmed to make the decision, has someone else make the decision, and then is perfectly happy? Or who finally pulls the trigger because she can't stand to think about it anymore, and then is happy and can't figure out why there was so much drama associated with the decision?

Completely the opposite with parenting, now that the children are here. Whatever saves me time, makes my life easier, pleases the kids... I'm down with it. Immediately. Probably should do more research.

[Eve]

I think I'm a satisficer, but I do focus groups. I drive my friends crazy, I research, talked it out, look some more and then do it... At least that was with this house. I knew what I could afford, wanted, neighborhood.. and looked and looked and looked some more.. I found it and made a decision quickly.. even when my friends were ""Are you crazy?", Now they agree with me.

One thing that I do ask is "Would I be happy if I didn't do it?" That answer guides me.